A man is being held on a $1.2 million bond for allegedly strangling a 19-year-old Houston woman, dismembering and hiding her body, and trying to burn his apartment down in a failed suicide attempt.
Henry David Cossette, 28, was booked Monday in the Harris County Jail for allegedly murdering 19-year-old Sara Goodwin, who has been missing since February 6, KPRC reported, citing court documents. “Cosette was also charged with arson and tampering with evidence – human corpse, according to court documents,” the outlet writes. “His bond has been set at $1,200,000.”
Goodwin was last seen on February 6 in the 8600 block of South Course Drive, the Houston Police Department (HPD) said in a press release. Goodwin’s friend, Jessica Finn, told KHOU that the 19-year-old was a sex worker but noted she was a caring sister.
“She has a 15-year-old brother that she will die for… that she basically raises,” Finn said.
Henry David Cossette (Houston Police Department)
On Saturday, Houston police and firefighters responded to an apartment fire that was “intentionally” set, the HPD’s press release states. “Cossette was found inside the apartment and he admitted to killing a 19-year-old woman and leaving her body in the 1800 block of Fellows Road in south Houston,” where police recovered remains, according to the release.
Though the remains are pending official identification, police believe the woman to be Goodwin based on the information Cossette provided.
“Cossette has been accused of strangling the victim, dismembering her body, hiding the remains, and then trying to burn his apartment down while trying to kill himself,” KRPC reported, citing court documents.
Before a body was located, Goodwin’s friends and family sought out the assistance of community “activist Quanell X, who held a press conference on Thursday, explaining how they believed Goodwin was taken against her will,” according to KHOU.
The same day, friends found Goodwin’s cellphone in the Victoria Park Apartment Complex. The phone was located roughly three blocks from where she was last seen, according to KPRC.
Additionally, the group was able to secure surveillance footage from a closeby car dealership, which showed Goodwin entering a vehicle believed to be a 2015-2017 Honda CRV, according to KHOU. Quanell X stated that sex workers had seen the car in the area and that they reported the driver had a gun.
Police told KPRC that surveillance video shows “the missing person willingly” entered the vehicle.
Cossette was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office’s online inmate records show.
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